Medical conditions such as Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome are sometimes grouped together under the name Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD) or Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI). These conditions are often caused by repetitive movements or motions. For example, data entry personnel often experience Carpal Tunnel Syndrome due to the constant and repetitive motions performed by their fingers depressing keys on a keyboard. Medical professionals such as pharmacists and nurses sometimes experience similar medical ailments due to repetitively placing lids or covers on pill bottle containers, for example. Due to the aforementioned conditions and other medical conditions (for example, arthritis, bursitis, and tendonitis), engaging in simple day-to-day activities such as placing the cover on a pill bottle can become challenging to some affected individuals.
For example, many senior citizens suffer from medical ailments such as inflammation of the joints of the fingers. As a result, these individuals are sometimes required to consume medication to assist in treating the ailments. Ironically, however, some of the individuals experience so much pain or discomfort from the ailments that they cannot open containers including their medication bottles. Handicapped individuals sometimes experience a similar problem. For example, hand or arm amputees with one real hand and possibly a prosthetic hand sometimes struggle to hold a pill bottle with their prosthetic, as they attempt to twist the lid off of the pill container with their good hand. Such a struggle may result in frustration and discouragement from consuming medication.
Child proof medicine bottles have lids that only need to be turned a little ways once depressed, but this is a different task for individuals with limited hand strength and dexterity and nearly impossible for certain C-spine injuries or stroke victims. Use of an electric powered device to open these containers would be overkill and potentially lead to an injury of the user if the lid (or cap) was turned too much while the user was holding the container resulting in the container being twisted out of the user's grasp. Additionally, electric powered devices are primarily used to perform multiple rotations during each activation, which is in excess of the minimal little turn of the cap needed to open a child proof medicine bottle.
Notwithstanding the usefulness of the above-described methods, a need still exists for a simple hand powered apparatus for easily loosening and fastening lids on containers, in particular child proof lids on medicine bottles.